Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 332 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- eee, y tema i ee A —— in Es aes oat > _ Tooms, your grace; an - over the will which had made him a beggar, that he could see, and, after a long study of the situation, he exclaimed aloud: ‘*No, no, there is no hope. 1 was better off as plain Mr, Howard.” “Are you sure of that?” asked a voice, close to his ear; and, when he looked round, there was the figure of the Hindoo adept, Ram Mandana, seated on a chair at the other side of the table, in the faint light of the lamp, his dark eyes gleaming with the | A an 27 . NN eee — once put the butts of their pieces on the | through the long corridor, no longer running, pavement, and began to load up. but stepping softly and looking nervously Then the Tower sunk into its usual ghost-} round them, the corridor was lighted up ly quietude, and George Howard went into the old Horse Armory, lighted only by the swinging lamp, with a sort of idea that there he would find the key to the mystery, that had baffled him and all the rest of the guards, so long. He paced to and fro, examining the armor and all the nooks and corners in which it solemn, almost unearthly light, that always | was possible fora man to be hid, for some appeared there, when they two were alone, At another time George would have been startled; but he had become accustomed to the strange appearances of the mysterious Hindoo, and he asked him calmly: ‘‘ Why have you come, Ram Mandana?” ‘As [ came before—as your friend, Be- think you, that I have never come before, but to warn you of danger to you and yours.” ‘Ts there danger to-night?” asked George. “There is, and great danger. If you es- cape to-night, all may be well; but if you show foolish mercy, to those who are not en- titled to any such thing, it will be the last time that you will get a chance to exercise it. That is what | came to say.” ‘*But will you not explain yourself more clearly, and tell me what is the danger?” asked George. ~ The Hindoo shook his head. “Tt is the part of one who is warned, to guard himself against all dangers. In my country, when we hunt the tiger, we kill the beast, wherever we find it. The man that spares one, when he has a chance to slay it, is but a fool, and when he finds the teeth of the tiger in his flesh, and the claws tearing him to pieces, he cannot stop death by think- ing of what he might have done, when it was in his power. You have been warned once, and the warning was of no avail. If this warning fails likewise, a stranger shall sit in the throne of the prince. Who is that at the door now, a friend or an enemy?” George started to look round, saw no one; and, when he turned again, Ram Mandana was gone. He felt his hair rising, he hardly knew why, at the mystery which encompassed this singular Hindoo, but the emergency was too close for him to waste time in hunting for the mode of exit of the adept. Ram Mandana was gone, but he had come to warn Howard. He had done so once be- fore, and the warning had come true, as George had found to his cost. What did it mean now? ‘‘Danger to my life?” he said to himself. ‘‘That can only mean from weapons, and I must arm myself as wellasIcan. He said it was coming to-night. That gives me time; but how much, no one can tell.” He rose and belted on his sword; took a pair of pistols, on which he knew he could depend to shoot straight, and finally sallied forth to visit the guards again. When he went out, the clocks of the Tow- er were striking eleven, and he remembered Spring-Heel Jack’s visit. He found the soldiers at their posts, the guard-room quiet as usual; most of the men, not on duty, sleeping on their hard benches, ready for instant action, while the sergeant of the guard was nodding in his seat. George went to him and told him that he expected a visit from the monster that had frightened so many people, and asked him whether the arms of the men were loaded. ‘‘Why, no, your grace,” said the sergeant in a way that showed the demand surprised him, “It ain’t usually thought necessary here, your grace knows; but it can be done, if your grace wishes it.” “T do. See that all load their pieces at once, on post. If the monster comes, | want every man that sees him to waste no time, but to fire straight at him.” The sergeant hesitated, “But there’s a lady in the Constable’s the men are afraid of scaring the wits out of her.” ‘‘We must take the risk of that, for to- night. It is more important to catch and kill this scoundrel, that is making his pranks. all over London, than to avoid frightening a ge »” the sergeant set out on his tour of the ts, and George heard him give the orders e had received, while the men on post at oo . ee ee oe | time; but found nothing, and was going away to the head of the stairs, when he was startled by the sound of a terrible shriek, in the voice of Rose Reid, from the floor below. CHAPTER XXXVIII. SPRING-HEEL JACK’S LAST VISIT. THe sound of the shriek came from the rooms of the Constable, the only place where he had not hitherto gone, for the reason that the old gentleman had forbidden him, by his cold behavior, to have anything to do with the safety of his daughter. ‘ But the delicacy which had prevented the young officer from going in that direction vanished as soon as he heard the sound of the scream from below. He knew that his old foe, Spring-Heel Jack, must have come again, and that Rose must have seen him. Down-stairs he rush- ed, as fast as he could go, a pistol in each hand. He found the corridor at the foot of the stair the same as usual, the sentry standing ag if dazed, his musket clutched in both hands, while he stared wildly round him, asif expecting to see something. he man had not dared to leave his post, and George rushed to the Constable’s rooms, when, to his horror, he found the door to be fast locked. The silence within was more awful to him than the shriek he had heard, and he threw himself against the door with all his force, trying to burst it in and get at the foe. As he tombe dry with the door, he shouted to the guard to come to his help, and they came running out of the guard-room, and hurrying to his assistance. The door was too heavy to be forced easily, but when three or four big guardsmen made a simultaneous rush at it, and battered it with the butts of their muskets, it flew from its hinges, and they got in, to find the insensible body of old General Reid, stretch- ed out in the arm-chair, where he had taken his nightly nap for many a year. . One glance at the pale and rigid face | showed that the general was senseless, if not dead. George rushed into the next room, where he knew that the family apartments of the general had been, though of course he had never entered them before. The next room to that in which the general was found turned out to be a bed-room, but it was empty, and the door communicatin with the next apartment was locked, and ha to be forced also. It was done in an instant by the now thor- oughly excited men, and a terrible sight lay before them, The dead body of Chundoo, the kitmagar, was stretched on the floor, the throat cut from ear to ear, the blood having formed a pool under his head, and a bloody sword lay by him. Howard, his brain whirling with the dread of what he was going to see, went on ahead of the men, and entered the next room, It was the kitchen of the little establish- ment, and empty of people; but the door be- yond it opened into the passage. Where, then, was Rose and her ayah, never separated from her mistress at night? He had known that Suryia always slept at the foot of her mistress’s couch, and now both cf them had disappeared. He went into the passage and found the light burning as usual, but no signs of the absent one. The men began to look at each other as the superstition, latent in all their natures, broke out in the face of this mys- terious disappearance, almost under their eyes. ‘Follow me,” said Howard impatiently, and he went on through the passage, sure that the fugitives must run on the sentries somewhere. | At last, as they were tracing their way iby a flash, followed by the heavy, bellow- ing report of a musket; and George rushed on in the direction of the shot, which came from the very corridor where Spring-Heel Jack had made his escape, the last time they had seen him. As they advanced they heard a confused noise of shouting before them, and as they turned a corner, came in sight of a confused group of men, all tangled in a heap. ‘“We have him at last!” shouted Howard, and he dashed on. But before he could get to the spot, out of the tangle of struggling men he had seen in the gloom, leaped the well-known figure of Spring-Heel Jack, and fled toward the very postern at which he had before disappeared. Howard saw that two men were lying on the ground, and caught sight of the white robe of a woman amongthem. His heart sunk within him as he thought that Rose Reid was dead at last. But he ran on ahead of all his men, and had the gratification of coming up with the monster, just as Spring-Heel Jack got to the postern door. It was wide open, just as it had been be- fore, though he had seen to its barring him- self; and Spring-Heel Jack took the same leap over the moat, as he had done before. But, this time, George did not attempt to run after.the flying figure. As the monster took his leap, the young officer halted and sunk on one knee, levelin his pistol. As Spring-Heel Jack alighted, he staggered for a moment, as if he slipped, and that moment gave George a good mark to aim at. The pistol flashed, and as the shot sped, he saw Spring-Heel Jack stagger and nearly fall. Then he recovered himself and started torun off again, with his usual marvelous swiftness. George had dropped his first pistol, and now rested the second on his knee, and fired, with the same careful aim. A second time the report rung out, and this time Spring-Heel Jack dropped on the ground. With a loud shout of triumph, George Howard ran back a few steps, and then took a flying leap himself across the great moat, which he had seen the monster leap. But he could not quite reach the other side, though he managed to catch at the edge of the bank, and after a hard struggle, to scramble up and gain the glacis. He looked back, and saw that the soldiers: had gathered at the postern-door, astounded at the width of the leap, and he shouted out to them: ‘“‘Get ladders, or come round the other wie We have got bim at last.” hen he ran on, and came up, within a few seconds, to the place where the mysteri- ous monster, that had baffled them all for so long, lay on the glacis. e knew that his shots must have taken effect, and expected to find the fugitive dead or badly wounded; but what was his sur- prise, when he got to the place where he thought it had been, to find that it had dis- appeared! . The night was dark enough to account for the disappearance, but how had the creature escaped the shots, which had certainly hit it? As he revolved these thoughts in his mind, he was startled by the sound of a stealthy footstep behind him, and the next moment he confronted the well-known figure that had once before nearly killed him. But this time he was not going to be taken unawares, In the vey moment of turning, he had instinctively drawn his sword, and now he made a lunge, in the dark, against the figure, which took effect. At least the blade struck something; but it seemed hard, and the point slipped off, as if it had met the resistance of armor. The next moment he was grappled, but he managed to wrench himself” free, and dealt the figure another blow, this time with the edge of the sword, on the head. he night was so dark that he could only see a dim outline of his antagonist, but the second blow also took effect. He felt the blade strike; and this time it was not a hard surface that met it. He had cut into some- thing, and he heard a deep curse, the first. EOomicbooks oeitinaecinndndl SS — ae a —